Cinder pot bracket



Jan. 9, 1940. w. JOHNSTON. JR 2,186,382

CINDER POT BRACKET Filed Aug. 10, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 III I ///l //l INVENTOR z; alla 5% 1m 1940- I w. JOHNSTON. JR 2,135,333

I CINDER' POT BRACKET Filed Aug. 10, 1939 2 Sheets-$heet-2 INVENTOR v Patented Jan. 9, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE OINDERPO T BRACKET William Johnston, Jr., Wilkinsburg, :Pa.

Application August 10, 1939, Serial No. 289,425

3'Claims. (01. 266-39) This invention relates to a tilting bracket for the containers used in the manufactured iron and steel to receive slag, cinder, and similar dross from a steel-making furnace, or converter, or 5 from a blast furnace.

Such containers, or vessels, I herein {gener-v ically term cinder pots, although in their different uses they are frequently called more specifi cally slag pots, or slag boxes, or are otherwise variously named in the Various branches of the industry. The cinder pots being used to receive what is primarily waste material, are carried from the location in which such material is received before being emptied. With the better grades of slag, and this is particularly true of open-hearth slag, the cinder pots are allowedv to stand until the slag has in large measure solidified, and are then transported on cars or buggies to a slag recovery yard, or dump. All the cinder potsused in'steel and iron making are heavy, and the cinder pots for the blast furnace slag in particular weigh many tons, and when charged contain many tons of material.

If the cinder pots are transported to a slagv gyrecovery yard or dump, they are so mounted on the cars which transport them that they may be tilted ontrunnions carried by the cinder pots, or-

' by lifting rings associated with the pots, to discharge the contents of the cinder pots withoutremoving them from the cars. It has been found desirable to make the lifting, or trunnion ring as an element separate from the cinder pot rather than to cast the trunnions of the cinder pot integr'al with the cinder pot wall.

' In a slag recovery yard it is desirable to use- A In tilting a cinder pot by a crane having a chain and hook attached to thecinder pot, it is necessaryto engage the cinder pot at averticalpoint thereon sufficiently far down on the pot to lie I below the center of gravity of the-pot and its contents. If the engagement of the crane chain with the cinderpot is'very low with respect to the center of gravity of a filled pot, toward the end of. its rotating movement about the axis of its trunnions 'it movesfree of opposition from the crane mechanism. The angle through which it thus moves may be substantial. This free movement of the cinder pot is highly undesirable, since it causes whipping of the crane chains and cables, and excessive stresses in the crane trolley., The upper region of the cinder pot also tends ,violently to strike the side of the pot-carrying 6 car. It is thus desirable to shift the point of engagement of the crane with the cinder pot when the cinder pot reaches dead center in its movement into discharging position. As the cinder pots frequently contain a sub- 10. .1

stantial' quantity of metal as well as the slag, the necessary point of engagement may differ in operation with different charges in the same cinder pot. When a. cinder pot has been laid over on its side to discharge its contents by an engagement sufficiently far down on the pot wall for convenient lowering into discharging position, suchengagement will not serve when the cinder pot is to be lifted back into vertical position on The problem of 0.

its car, or'buggy, by the crane. v manually changing the engagement of the crane hook to a different level on the cinder pot wall is one which presents great difficulty anddiscomfort to the persons making the change, and is accompanied with a very real danger of serious injury to those persons. This is because of the high temperature existing in thewall of the cinder 'p'ot, andbecause of the shape and the position-of the cinder pot. 1 It is "the object of my invention to provide a 30 cinder pot with such means for engaging an instrument, such as a crane hook, carried by the chain of a crane,'that the craneman may change the engagement by manipulating the chain Without the 'interventionof any, other person manbled with it.

' In the accompanying drawings Fig. I is an isometric view of a;' railway car mounting a cinder" 45' pct equipped in accordance with my invention.

. Fig. IIis a fragmentary side elevation of the trunnion ring associated with the cinder pot of Fig. I, showing particularly a tilting bracketin accordance with my invention and a clevis adapt- 50 ed for engagement by a crane hook confined in the bracket. Fig. III is a schematic side elevation of a cinder pot mounted by trunnions in, a railway car, and showing it in an intermediate position as it is tilted from upright position to ing an engagement of the tilting bracket by the crane hook suitable for restoring the cinder pot to upright position.

In the drawings, reference numeral l designates a cinder pot, which cinder pot is mounted on the pedestals 2 of car 3 by means of four trunnions 4 associated with the cinder pot. The selective .tilting brackets are formed as lugs, or fins 5, ex-

tended radially and vertically with respect to the vertical axis of the cinder pot. Each. of the lugs, or fins 5 which forms the body of a tilting bracket, has therein a slot ifiarranged in a ver tically extended relation with respect to the body of the cinder pot, and trifurcated in a direction awayfrom the pot wall to provide three branch openings or sockets l, 8 and 9 providing engaging seats. In the slot 6 there is confined the crossmember Ill of a clevis- I I, which is also provided with cross-members l2 and R3 to form an eye for engagement by the crane hook M, carried by thecrane chain E5.

,The slot '6 is formed with a curved surface 56 presented toward the cinder pot to facilitate movement :of the cross bar l0 of the clevis, as it is shifted from one seat to another in thebracket. The entrances la, 80. and 9a to the several seats 1, 8, and '9 are somewhat restricted to lessen the possibility of accidental dislodgment of the clevis l i, from the seat into which it has been brought,

and the walls ll and 18 which separate the clevisreceiving seats and the approaches thereto are so formed that their edges are either curved, or inclined to the main slot to make it easy for a craneman to find the selected seat in the bracket with the clevis.

In Fig. I of the drawings, a cross bar ll] of clevis H is shown in the lowermost seat I of a bracket 5, in preparation for tilting the cinder pot. In Fig. IV of the drawings, the cinder pot has been tilted to discharge its contents,'and the cross bar W of the clevis has, by crane manipulation, been brought into the uppermost seat 9 in preparation for restoring the cinder pot to an upright position on the car. It will be apparent that the clevis ll may thus be changed in its engagement by a simple shifting movement from one to another of the branch slots, to find its seat therein; and, if found desirable, a shift may be made by the crane operation when the cinder pot is passing through its dead center position, shown in Fig. III. p

As shown, and as is preferable, the trunnions t upon which the cinder pot tiltably is supported and the tilting brackets 5 are carried by a trunnion ring it, which is an element formed separately from the cinder pot, and in. which the cinder pot rests by means of webs, or feet, 28 radially extended from its wall. Other adjustable webs, or feet 2| below the trunnion ring keep it from falling out of the ring in tilted position of the cinder pot.

It will be readily understood that the tilting bracket may be of greater vertical extent than is shown, and that the main slots therein may be longer and may have more than three branches providing seats for selective engagement by a clevis. I have found that a selective lifting bracket having the vertical extent and selectivity in engagement shown in the drawings, provides sufiicient difierence in the level of engagement to facilitate crane tilting and restoration of the cinder pot in a crane-actuated discharging operation for cinder pots of the more usual types and sizes.

In considering the utility of my tilting bracket, it should be borne in mindrthat a crane operator is in position to observe the level to which a cinder pot being handled by him is filled, and in some measure to observe the nature of its contents as determining the distribution of weight in the cinder pot, and its efiective center of gravity. He can readily observe the action of crane cables and chains, as indicating the desirability of the level at which the cinder pot is engaged, with respect to the center of gravity of the cinder pot, and the desired direction of rotation of the cinder pot.

Whereas the selective tilting bracket of my invention has been discussedin connection with vessels used to hold slagand cinder in the making of iron and steel, it is not to be considered as limited to such use. In the non-ferrous metal industries it may be applied to vessels used to hold and convey dross, matte, or slag; and in both the ferrous and non-ferrous industries it may be applied to'vessels used as ladles, or kettles for molten metal.

'I claim as'my invention:

, 1. In combination with'a cinder pot adapted to be tilted for discharging its contents, a selective tilting bracket connected with thewall of the cinder potand projectant outwardlyand vertically along the wall of the cinder pot, said tilting bracket having therein a main slot extended vertically of the cinder pot confining an engaging member and a plurality of branch slots in communication with the said main slot to provide seats iorreceiving an engaging member from the main slot at difierent levels vertically of the cinder pot.

2. For association with a cinder pot a ring adapted to embrace the. cinder pot having trunnions providing an axle about which the cinder pot may be tilted to discharge its contents and 3. For association with a cinder pot adapted to be tilted for discharging its contents a ring adapted to embrace the cinder pot andvcarrying a selective tilting bracket arranged in assembly of the said ring with a cinder pot to project outwardly from and vertically along the Wall of the cinder pot, said tilting bracket having therein a vertically extended main slot for confining an engaging member and a plurality of branch slots.

in communication with the main slot to provide seats for receiving an engaging member from the main slot at different levels vertically of th cinder pot.

WILLIAM JOHNSTON, JR 

